whatever is happening this week with the fiscal cliff, it's just one little blip in a multidecade goal to reshape how america looks politically, business. they are very philosophically focused and very, very disciplined, and very, very wealthy. >> the piece is to mark his 77th birthday, so he has been at it for some time. here is another interesting passage from your article. charles' many critics owe on the left, including the president of the united states, accuse him of accumulating too much power and using it to promote his own economic interests through a network of secretive organizations they call the kochtopus. what is it and how far does it stretch? >> on the left the idea is that they are funding many if not most, certainly many, of the leading right wing think tanks. if you think about it, this is how they play the game. they're talking about long-term investments. a lot of people are focused on how much money was spent by super pacs and donors in this election cycle. what the kochs have always done is said we're going to look at this and say how can we lay the seeds? they k